BIBLES BACK AT CHURCH

[allison reno]

I ALSO THINK BIBLES SHOULD RETURN TO THE CHURCH PEWS.I THINK EVEN THE MERE SITE OF BIBLES IN THE PEWS WOULD INSPIRE SOME PEOPLE TO PICK IT UP AND BEGIN TO FEED THEMSELVES.THE WORD ALWAYS HELPS ME WORSHIP BECAUSE IT HELPS ME TO KNOW MORE ABOUT THE ONE I WORSHIP, AND IN TURN I HAVE MORE TO WORSHIP ABOUT.AFTER ALL WORSHIP IS ALL ABOUT HIM,AND OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM. MARANATHA!!!

[Lisa Szwec]

Bring Bibles back into the sanctuary? Yes! I TOTALLY agree with this. For some folks (dare I say most folks, and include myself in that group btw), it may be the ONLY time they pick up a Bible that week. Have people follow the readings from the Bible instead of pre-printed worship supplement? Have large print Bibles available? Or can people bring their own Bible? Yes, yes, and yes!

Great thread, Allison!

[Erin Daubert]

I think this is so important. We finally purchased some new pew Bibles for our church a couple of years ago. They are red letter Bibles and with every lesson that is read, the page number for the Bibles is also next to it. The hope was that people would read along and begin to learn where each book of the Bible is and pay more attention to the lessons. Unfortunately, they are not widely used yet, but I see some people reading them now and again and just having Bibles in church creates a different feeling... the feeling that God's word is accessible to everyone, not just those at the altar.

[Lisa Szwec]

Erin, your points are excellent:
- Word of God is accessible to everyone
- Bibles' presence inspires curiosity of the Word of God

And thanks for sharing your observation about the time it's taking to 'catch on'. Hindsight being 20/20, what could have been done differently in your congregation?

I think that up front, equipping the pew racks with Bibles makes a powerful statement about a congregation's commitment to the Book of Faith initiative too. However, purchase and placement are easy. Following through requires long-term commitment to action.

[allison reno]

Erin Daubert said:

I think this is so important. We finally purchased some new pew Bibles for our church a couple of years ago. They are red letter Bibles and with every lesson that is read, the page number for the Bibles is also next to it. The hope was that people would read along and begin to learn where each book of the Bible is and pay more attention to the lessons. Unfortunately, they are not widely used yet, but I see some people reading them now and again and just having Bibles in church creates a different feeling... the feeling that God's word is accessible to everyone, not just those at the altar.

[Trinity Lutheran Church]

Is it better to have Bibles in the pews or to have people bring their own Bibles from home? How great it would be to see Lutherans bringing their Bibles to church en masse every Sunday. Then when they got home they could read them too. What a witness to the gospel that would be!

[M B Foster]

Pew Bibles were an important part of my Christian (Lutheran) upbringing. I flipped through them, got to know the parts of the Bible, read lots of Proverbs and also the Song of Solomon ("oh, my! THAT'S in the Bible?!") And I enjoyed tracing those line drawings that were in the Good News Bible - remember those?
I've never been able to understand why my church doesn't have them in every pew. I guess it's time I brought it up, since I'm on church council!

[Lance Lindgren]

Trinity Lutheran Church said:

Is it better to have Bibles in the pews or to have people bring their own Bibles from home? How great it would be to see Lutherans bringing their Bibles to church en masse every Sunday. Then when they got home they could read them too. What a witness to the gospel that would be!

From L. Lindgren -
Your idea at Trinity is great! I'm quite baffled why (Lutheran) worshipers don't bring their bibles, like what you see with so many other denominations and independents.
Something I've found out with getting folks to bring their Bibles is that you have to stay on their case constantly, reminding them to bring their Bibles, otherwise they'll fall back into that same old pattern.
I've thought of getting bibles into the pew; but then, that wouldn't help the cause of getting folks to bring their Bibles from home.
Still , the constant reminder must the the plan...

[Lisa Szwec]

At the church I grew up in, the mode was BYOB (Bring Your Own Bible). But we did have them in the pew racks too. We were encouraged to highlight passages when read, write notes in the margins, etc. Reading and preaching were part of the teaching, and you were expected to learn something.

I would like to mention here that I grew up in a Southern Baptist church. The pastor would jump around several passages in the Bible, often citing more than a dozen in a single sermon. You learned to find book-chapter-and verse really fast after a few Sundays!

At any rate, I think that pre-printing the readings, while "convenient" as they are, may have contributed to our passivity when it comes to learning the scriptures.

[allison reno]

I ALSO THINK THIS WOULD BE WONDERFUL, BUT IF WE REALLY WANT IT TO HAPPEN WE MUST TAKE A STEP.THINK OF SOMETHING YOU CAN DO [NO MATTER HOW BIG OR SMALL] START THERE. ARE YOU SERIOUS OR JUST TALKING.JUST DO IT !!!
Trinity Lutheran Church said:

Is it better to have Bibles in the pews or to have people bring their own Bibles from home? How great it would be to see Lutherans bringing their Bibles to church en masse every Sunday. Then when they got home they could read them too. What a witness to the gospel that would be!

[Mike Plyman]

Hi all! Just signed up. Great conversation. First, I think the Book of Faith Initiative is inspiring and refocuses us on the Word of God. And using this conversation as an example, here we are talking about actually having people open the Bible in church. This is exactly what the Book of Faith Initiative will help us get back to.

We do have pew Bibles but all of our readings are printed in our worship folder so our Bibles hardly get opened. There is one man who brings his Bible and has it open during the sermon as he is making notes. I do open the pew Bible during sermons as well and usually I find that I want to keep reading to find out more of the meaning around the actual reading.

The last church I belonged to had a Saturday class called "The Bible in a Day" led by one of the pastors with lunch provided. It was great. There were people there who were faithful members and involved in ministry yet they admitted they felt intimidated when it came to opening the Bible. They had not really opened it since confirmation and lacked understanding. The class helped many of them. And in fact, every household that became members would receive a study Bible encouraging bringing the Bible to church. This was mentioned in the New Member class before they joined. The "Rediscovering the Book of Faith Course" sounds like a much needed program for starting people on the road to understanding the Bible.

[allison reno]

YOU ARE RIGHT ON !!I WOULD ABSOLUTELY LOVE TO HAVE ONE OF THOSE " THE BIBLE IN A DAY"AT OUR CHURCH. PRAY FOR US. WE NEED IT

Mike Plyman said:

Hi all! Just signed up. Great conversation. First, I think the Book of Faith Initiative is inspiring and refocuses us on the Word of God. And using this conversation as an example, here we are talking about actually having people open the Bible in church. This is exactly what the Book of Faith Initiative will help us get back to.

We do have pew Bibles but all of our readings are printed in our worship folder so our Bibles hardly get opened. There is one man who brings his Bible and has it open during the sermon as he is making notes. I do open the pew Bible during sermons as well and usually I find that I want to keep reading to find out more of the meaning around the actual reading.

The last church I belonged to had a Saturday class called "The Bible in a Day" led by one of the pastors with lunch provided. It was great. There were people there who were faithful members and involved in ministry yet they admitted they felt intimidated when it came to opening the Bible. They had not really opened it since confirmation and lacked understanding. The class helped many of them. And in fact, every household that became members would receive a study Bible encouraging bringing the Bible to church. This was mentioned in the New Member class before they joined. The "Rediscovering the Book of Faith Course" sounds like a much needed program for starting people on the road to understanding the Bible.

[Oliver Jones]

Mike Plyman said:

The last church I belonged to had a Saturday class called "The Bible in a Day" led by one of the pastors with lunch provided.

This sounds wonderful! Do you remember whether this event used pre-published materials? Or did the pastor leading it create her own?